36 Amendments of Estrella DURÁ FERRANDIS related to 2020/2135(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-Aa. whereas the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) outlines the importance of maintaining and acquiring skills to 'ensure equal opportunities and access to the labour market' and stipulates that everyone has the right to 'quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market';
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas according to the OECD’s PISA exercise in 2018 many low-income homes had no access to computers; whereas according to Eurostat there were significant differences in the access to broadband internet in the EU in 2019, ranging from 74% of households for the lowest-income quartile to 97% in the highest-income quartile; whereas countries that have greater availability of broadband internet in homes also have a greater number of citizens with basic or advanced digital skills;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas digitalisation has an immense potential to boost productivity and improve well-being but it can also increase inequalities if some people, and more specifically vulnerable groups, or regions are left behind; whereas the digital divide in early childhood has a negative impact on employment prospects in later life; whereas, in the context of remote schooling and teleworking, the digital divide could lead to further inequalities, exclusion and discrimination; whereas according to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 42% of Europeans still lack basic digital skills; whereas the level of digital proficiency has specific socio-economic, gender, age, geographic and accessibility aspects, which must be addressed;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing gaps that are faced by people with disabilities and special needs when accessing internet; whereas according to the European Disability Forum one in three persons with disabilities has never used the internet; whereas the Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires accessibility of information as well as communication technologies and systems on an equal basis;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas a significant gender gap in digital skills still persists and is expected to widen; whereas only 17% of tech sector jobs are hold by women despite a share of 54% female students in tertiary education; whereas according to Eurostat only one in three STEM graduates is a woman; whereas efforts to tackle gender bias and inequality in the digital sector are insufficient; whereas the gender gap is particularly evident in the AI sector, where only 22% of AI professionals globally are female, thereby solidifying a male-biased trajectory for the digital sector in the foreseeable future;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas older people are more vulnerable to digital exclusion; whereas only 35 % of persons aged 55-74 possess basic digital skills, compared to 82% of persons aged 16-24;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the provision of digital infrastructure and digital equipment is a precondition for digital education; whereas particular attention should be paid to disadvantaged and rural areas in this context; whereas despite the large majority of households having access to a computer, disparities between Member States and regions are still significant; whereas access to computers in schools also varies greatly between and within Member States; whereas the lack of digital equipment and connectivity in schools has a detrimental effect on the digital skills education of students and the availability of digital teaching tools;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented challenge for teachers and trainers at all levels, including in Vocational Education and Training (VET); whereas prior to the crisis only 39% of teachers in the EU felt well or very well prepared to use digital technologies for teaching, with significant differences between Member States;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the development of digital skills is vital in order to adapt to the changing needs of an increasingly digitised labour market and to combat job losses and adverse social phenomena, such as lack ofing access to basic services ands well as digital and social exclusion; whereas access to digital technologies has been improved throughout Europe but gender and generation gaps as well as disparities between different socio-economic backgrounds and urban/rural areas still persists and pose a threat to competitiveness and decent jobs;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the green and digital transitions represent a significant challenge to the labour markets, affecting sectors and firms differently and exacerbating qualification gaps and inequalities between workers as well as between firms; whereas it is estimated that 30% of jobs in the EU (50% globally) will disappear over the next 25 years to be replaced by jobs requiring advanced digital skills; whereas education, training and life-long-learning will play a key role with regard to the just transition to the digital economy;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas there are practically no evaluation documents, both for individual projects and for Member States’ national digitisation strategies as a whole, which makes it impossible to identify ait is difficult to identify a clear link between a given intervention and an observed increase in digital skillqualifications due to a lack of research on digitalisation strategies;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas supporting digital readiness in general and vocational schools, as well as personalisation and innovation in education systems, may help learners at all ages to improve learning outcomes, contribute to achieving greater fairness and increase the effectiveness of education;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas any digital education strategy must apply a lifelong learning approach, cut across education and training sectors and cover both formal and non-formal education settings;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas VET is an essential part of European education systems equipping young people and adults with qualifications and competences necessary for employment and lifelong learning; whereas VET accounts for about half of the upper secondary graduates in the European Union; whereas VET will play a crucial role when addressing the challenges of the green and digital transitions, and will be key to provide workers with the necessary qualifications for the EU labour market;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Ec. whereas digital illiteracy and low levels of digital qualifications are putting the democratic foundations of society at risk as they are a barrier to social inclusion and increase citizens’ vulnerability with regard to identity and data thefts, cyberbullying, disinformation campaigns and online scams;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Recital E d (new)
Recital E d (new)
Ed. whereas COVID-19 has highlighted that when defining the goals, the mechanisms and the means of the digital education a multi-stakeholder approach should be followed;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Recital E e (new)
Recital E e (new)
Ee. whereas the European Council proposed severe cuts to flagships programmes for education like Erasmus+ in the context of the next MFF; whereas the European Parliament has called repeatedly for an ambitious budget and an increase in the sums allocated to the programmes related to education; whereas the European Parliament supports the allocation of 10% of the recovery fund for education;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the need to train teacherpay specific attention to the continuous training and professional development of teachers and trainers at all levels, including in VET, and provide them IT tools in order to improve their digital skills, including skills assessments and certification mechanisms, through such programmes such as e-Twinning, EPALE and Erasmus+; stresses the need to put teachers and trainers at all levels at the heart of the digital education process, both in the design and execution;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls that the Erasmus+ programme is the primary funding instrument to support the construction of the European Education Area; criticises, therefore, the cuts proposed by the Council and the Commission to this programme and reiterates its call for the Erasmus+ budget to be tripled compared to the 2014-2020 MFF; calls for the allocation of 10% of the EU's recovery plan to education; calls upon Member States to allocate 10% of their GDP to education;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Stresses the need of teachers and trainers at all levels, including in VET, having high digital qualifications and the necessary technological equipment at their disposal to be able to prepare students and apprentices for the digital transition and the labour market in the digital age;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to maximise their efforts to invest in affordable, accessible, inclusive and high-quality VET, to reinforce upskilling and reskilling measures, including digital and transferable skills, and to promote lifelong learning to prepare workers for the needs of the labour market affected by the green and digital transformations;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Highlights that digital qualifications development and lifelong learning are key tools to achieve quality jobs, fair salaries and decent working conditions; recalls that green and digital transitions represent a significant challenge to the labour markets; calls, therefore, on the Member States to define effective qualification strategies including concrete targets within their national VET and adult learning policies to support workers and the unemployed;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)
Paragraph 1 f (new)
1f. Stresses the need to take the European Social Partners Framework Agreement on Digitalisation into consideration when defining the DEAP; recalls that the aforementioned agreement outlines the responsibility of employers to upskill and reskill workers, in particular in view of the digitalisation of jobs;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 g (new)
Paragraph 1 g (new)
1g. Underlines the importance of corporate investment in formal and informal training and life-long learning in order to support the just transition towards the digital economy; stresses in this context that companies deploying AI, robotics and related technologies have the responsibility of providing adequate re- skilling and up-skilling for all employees concerned in order for them to learn how to use digital tools and to work with co- bots and other new technologies, thereby adapting to changing needs of the labour market and staying in employment;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 h (new)
Paragraph 1 h (new)
1h. Welcomes the proposal for a Council Recommendation on vocational education and training (VET) for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience; supports the overall aims of the proposal to modernise the Union policy on VET, to streamline the European cooperation in the process and simplify VET governance; highlights the central role of VET in the context of life-long learning and the need of continuous training and qualification of workers in the transition to a green and digital economy;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 i (new)
Paragraph 1 i (new)
1i. Highlights that VET systems should play an equally important role for adults in need of up- and reskilling; calls on the Commission to adopt a holistic approach to VET and adult learning reaching across formal, non-formal and informal learning; calls on Member States to make VET more attractive and accessible to adult learners, and to create stronger links and cooperation between VET for adults and non-formal adult learning to promote key competences, including solid basic skills, digital, transversal, green and other life skills which provide strong foundations for resilience, lifelong employability, social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Member States to guaranteensure that all educational establishments and all students have access to broadband internet, which is a prerequisite for the process of improving digital skillhouseholds and public institutions have access to broadband internet and IT tools in order to tackle the digital divide, especially with regard to vulnerable groups;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Member States to remove access barriers to access to education, with particular emphasis on digital education, in order to improve digital skillqualifications;
Amendment 106 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Urges the Commission to put forward a consolidated proposal in the framework of the post-2020 European Disability Strategy to ensure full and effective accessibility of information and communication technologies and systems on an equal basis;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Deplores the fact that still not all European students have access to the digital infrastructure and/or digital equipment; reiterates the need to urgently improve connectivity, in particular in disadvantaged and rural areas;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Warns that social and educational inequalities in early childhood have a negative impact on educational attainment and employment prospects in later life; reiterates the need for improving access to quality education and more efforts in developing digital and media skills at an early age; welcomes the announcement of the European Commission to introduce a European Child Guarantee in order to tackle child poverty; underlines that Member States should allocate at least 5 % of the European Social Fund (ESF+) resources under shared management to support activities under the European Child Guarantee and insists that a separate budget line under ESF+ needs to be created for the European Child Guarantee, with an allocation of EUR 20 billion;
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Highlights that the COVID-19 crisis has already left many people jobless, especially young people who find themselves anyhow more often in precarious employment; welcomes in this context the Commission’s plans to strengthen the European Youth Guarantee; considers, in this context, the idea that young people in general, and more particularly NEETs, who register for the Youth Guarantee schemes should be supported in developing and enhancing digital skills to facilitate upskilling and reskilling towards green and digital transitions; highlights that it is necessary that Member States continue to invest sufficient ESF+ resources in measures to support youth employment and that they shall therefore allocate at least 15 % of their ESF+ resources under shared management to targeted actions and structural reforms to support quality youth employment;
Amendment 120 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3d. Stresses that the digital gender gap is an economic, societal and cultural issue which should be addressed by a holistic approach; highlights the need to encourage the participation of young girls and women in STEM subjects, in digital education and the ICT labour market; calls therefore on the Commission to ensure that the next DEAP is fully gender mainstreamed;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3e. Is concerned about the fact that only 35 % of persons aged 55-74 possess basic digital skills; recalls that older learners face difficulties in accessing adult education opportunities as these are often not tailored to their learning needs and/or are not fully accessible; underlines the need to improve access to digital skills for seniors and people from disadvantaged groups;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses the need to teach basic digital skills and strengthen critical thinking and media use skills in children and young people, as this will enable them to assess and overcome the dangers posed by fake news, cyber- bullying, radicalisation, cyber-security issues and fraud. following a lifelong- learning approach and providing sufficient resources to the education systems in this regard; emphasizes in this context the need to enable teaching staff to master the challenge of preparing students and apprentices for life and work in the digital age;
Amendment 134 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Recalls that the crisis has highlighted the need for a multi- stakeholder approach to education policy, including teachers and trainers, students, parents, social partners, NGOs, local authorities and community organisations in both design and delivery;